Pak rules out breakthrough during Mukherjee visit

Pakistan on Tuesday ruled out any breakthrough in the ongoing peace process with India during Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee's upcoming visit to Islamabad next month.

"It will be premature to talk about any breakthrough during the visit," Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan told a press conference in Islamabad.

He said primary purpose of Mukherjee's visit was to deliver invitation for the forthcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation conference, scheduled to be held in New Delhi in April, yet the two foreign ministers would avail of the opportunity to hold a review meeting of the ongoing composite dialogue.

"We hope that peace process with India will move forward and reach some culmination in 2007," he said while recalling a brief suspension caused to the process by the July 11 serial bombings.

Khan said the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also on the cards adding, that the date and other modalities have to be worked out.

When asked about the progress achieved so far in resolving the Siachen dispute, he said, "We need to make serious efforts to resolve the issue. This will be a very important Confidence Building Measure if we settle this longstanding dispute."

Pakistani and Indian armies have faced each other across the hostile zone since 1984. Islamabad claims that Indian troops quietly infiltrated Pakistani territory, thus violating the 1949 ceasefire agreement.

Siachen, which is one of the eight agenda items of the composite dialogue, is known as the highest battleground in the world and where the mercury on occasion drops to 40° Celsius below freezing.

Islamabad demands the withdrawal of troops to the level of a ceasefire agreement reached after the 1971 war while India seeks authentication of present positions.

"We had exchanged ideas on the issue during New Delhi round of talks last month," Khan said adding that there would be further discussions when Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon visits Pakistan for the fresh round of talks in February.

On Jammu and Kashmir, he emphatically denied any change in Pakistan's policy, saying that right of self-determination for Kashmiris is the essence and soul of Pakistan's political and moral position on the issue.

He said this was a "sacrosanct" position, which was even enshrined by the UN Security Council's resolutions, which provided the framework for exercise of right to self-determination by Kashmiris and underpinned Pakistan's legal position.

"Our efforts to secure solution of the issue are premised on flexibility," the foreign secretary said and added that the most important aspect of this premise was the pursuit of the negotiated settlement that is acceptable to people of Kashmir.

On President Pervez Musharraf's recent four-point formula, which also envisaged demilitarisation, self-governance and joint management controls in Kashmir as options for solution of the problem, Khan said the ideas generated a discourse in India and Pakistan.

"It also raised hopes among Kashmiris for a possible ground to reach an acceptable solution to the issue," he added.

He was not sure as to when this hope would be realised, but said never before had there been sustained and focused discussions on Kashmir as it had been in the past two years.